The Secret Policeman's Ball of 1979 contained riches. I have already posted Peter Cook's parody of Mr Justice Cantley's summing up in the trial of Jeremy Thorpe and Rowan Atkinson's schoolmaster sketch. There is also a great solo version of Pinball Wizard by Peter Townsend beginning at 13:19. But it is Mike Brearley's appearance in The Name's the Game is have chosen here. He is the third and final mystery assailant. When I wrote: When Brearley became England's captain in 1977 it was almost as though Jonathan Miller or Michael Frayn had been put in charge. Brearley was a representative ...

I should have actually written it on here, but I reckoned that the number of Cabinet ministers resigning today would be zero. Whether that holds up when they start to get grief from their constituency associations is yet to be seen. It was always clear that whatever came out of the Chequers summit today would be less than what we have already. We can't get as good a deal as we get from being a full member of the European Union. We should be in there shaping hhe EU response to the challenges facing us all whether they be on ...

Regular readers will remember my solution to the problem of the Palace of Westminster needing extensive, expensive restoration: Just let the place gently fall into decay. Imagine how much more attractive it would be as a ruin alive with feral cats, buddleias and fragments of Gothic tracery.They will also remember my alternative venue for Parliament: Arkwright's Mill in Cromford, Derbyshire. I was there today and am pleased to report everything is in order. The mill itself is now more of a visitor attraction - in fact it is an experience - and could surely accommodate a couple of debating chambers. ...

News from the new Liberal Democrats Campaign for Race Equality (background here): Kishan Devani has taken up the role of Vice President. As Asian Lite reports: "After our Executive meeting at the House of Lords. I am pleased to announce that Kishan Devani was appointed Vice President of LDCRE," said Chairman of LDCRE, Roderick Lynch. "I look forward to working with Kishan & our President Baroness Hussein-Ece, who make up our presidential dream team in what will be an exciting future for the organisation." Kishan said: 'I am truly honoured to be appointed Vice-President of the Liberal Democrats Campaign for ...

[IMG: Walking in boots] The Kent County Council draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan details how they will develop the public rights of way network in Kent over the next 10 years. They want to hear your views to ensure that the draft plan will meet the needs and expectations of Kent residents. The consultation runs from 20 June - 12 September 2018. Visit www.kent.gov.uk/rightsofwayimprovementplan for more details and to complete the online questionnaire. To request hard copies or alternative formats of any consultation materials, please email alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk or telephone 03000 421553 (text relay service number: 18001 03000 421553). This ...

This was a rather unusual meeting, in that it was dominated by one very large agenda item, discussing the idea of a registered supporters scheme. In fact, for the first time, we applied our 9pm meeting guillotine and postponed some other discussions to our July meeting. We started in the normal way with staff reports. The committee was enormously impressed by the retention rates the Membership team have achieved this quarter, currently standing at 94.5%. That's a fantastic achievement, and a credit to the team's hard work. The Membership team have also started tracking Exit data - reasons why people ...

One of the quirks of the UK electoral system is how the country's past means foreign nationals from a variety of countries get the vote in the UK. If a country is a member of the Commonwealth,* then its nationals living in the UK can vote in our elections, including general elections (despite Liam Fox's views). Or rather, can vote as long as the legislation has been updated. Which meant that when The Gambia left the Commonwealth in 2013, its nationals kept the vote for a fair while in the UK. Three years or so in fact. A change of ...

As the Cabinet gathers at Chequers today, an extraordinary memo has been passed to some journalists from a Number 10 source surrounding what happens if any ministers decide to resign on the spot today (Sam Coates from the Times has put it out on Twitter): "All set for Chequers. Totally focused and confident of delivering a successful day for the PM. Collective responsibility will be asserted at the end of the day. Taxi cards for Aston's taxis, the local cab firm, are in the foyer for those who decide they can't face making the right decision for the country – ...

The British cabinet is preparing to retire to Chequers for a country weekend of Pimms, strawberries and footie and tennis on the telly. There may even be some croquet on the prime ministerial lawn and perhaps late night bridge in the drawing room. Miss Marple and/or Hercule Poirot, however, should be on hand for a rapid intervention. The likelihood of blood on the vintage Axminster is high. The stated purpose of the meeting is to finally reach an agreement on the British negotiating position for Brexit negotiations. Will they agree? Unlikely. The Brexiteers red lines are finally hitting the brick ...

There has been a lot of hand wringing about Trump giving up the USA's leading role guaranteeing the global world order and abandoning the rules-based system which it created. Yet, even a superficial look at post-war history reveals that a lot of our current global security concerns were caused by the short-sighted foreign policy of [...] The post So long, rogue superpower, and good riddance appeared first on Radix.

Good news from the West Country. Kingsmead (Bath & North East Somerset) result: LDEM: 41.1% (+10.0) LAB: 24.6% (+11.6) CON: 21.3% (-6.8) GRN: 13.0% (-9.5) LDem GAIN from Con. No UKIP (-5.3) as prev. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 5, 2018 That's two weeks running when we have had a full slate of candidates in by-elections. It is so important that we give voters the chance to vote for us and you never know who might be inspired to join and get involved with us if we show that we are there. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat ...

Ceiling of banqueting suite Cunard Building, Liverpool The Liverpool Echo has the story on its Twitter page – see link above You have to laugh as Liverpool City Council are (like all other local authorities) the people whose job it is to regulate what can and can't be done on a Listed Building! The Cunard Building is Grade II* Listed. They need 'Listed Building Consent' from er, Liverpool City Council's Planning Dept. but because they did not apply for it the banner has to come down. You could not make this up.........

"Housing is the first social service."[1] But Shropshire's housing statistics make an uncomfortable read. They suggest we are not providing the housing social service our residents need.[2] It's Catch 22 here in Shropshire. Over the years, we have built homes that are larger than average. That means that four in ten homes in the county have two or more spare bedrooms. Many older people would like to downsize but they can't find suitable smaller housing in the villages and market towns they live in. That in turn means that growing families can't move into bigger homes. The shortage of smaller ...